A little bit of rain was no match for this amazing day! As it always seems to do, the sky cleared up just long enough for us to shoot some portraits in the lovely courtyard outside. And when the rain did come down, we found we were presented with the entire stunning interior of the Langham as our backup backdrop. The real point of this all though {as you can see below} is that Joann & Donald’s smiles could light up even the darkest stormiest of days :) I feel so blessed to have gotten to know such a sweet and fun-loving couple, who truly glow in each other’s presence.

The wedding was coordinated by Ada and her amazing team at Fresh Events – these girls seriously always ensure a beautiful affair and a perfect flow to the day. Also loved working again with Jason of 11H Entertainment, he creates quite the awesome party!

Love this shot of the guys captured by Mary!

It was an overcast day in November. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed in my San Francisco hotel room, laptop by my side, on the phone with the sweetest writer who was putting together an article for Professional Photographer magazine. When I hung up the phone I’m pretty sure a fervent pinching session ensued. Because seriously? Phone interview? Really? Me?

I absolutely love engagement sessions and it is an honor to be included in an article in the February issue, regarding ways to keep sessions fun and unique. I get asked from time to time regarding using props to personalize sessions – who brings them, how we decide what to use, etc. and I was excited to share a little about my experiences in this article. You can download the full story here. A very big thank you to to Rebecca Zoumberos for passing my name along initially, and to Stephanie Boozer for chatting with me, putting my rambly rambly thoughts into coherent sentences, and conveying what I meant to say so eloquently :)

Fact: I cry at 110% of the weddings I shoot, sometimes during vows, or father-daughter dances, or the slideshow (there are BABY PICTURES, set to BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, for goodness sakes), and this time it was was during the toasts. Erin’s maid-of-honor read off a simple but beautiful collection of advice, and the final one spoke so much to my heart. She said it was a piece of advice given to her husband by his friend, at their own wedding 7 years ago, and it read: make sure you never fall out of love at the same time. She continued to elaborate that yes, marriage can be difficult, and feelings can be tested, and times can be hard, but as long as one of you is there to fight for it and hold each other together, you.will.always.be.okay. It is a beautiful concept to me to think that sometimes you have to take turns being the one to hold things together, even if I feel that Erin & Ernie will probably never face such situations – the love they have for each other is palpable, so pure and honest and true. When I first met with Erin over coffee, I noticed a little sparkle would appear in her eye everytime Ernie came up in conversation… and when I finally met him on the big day, whatdoyaknow – he had that same sparkle in his eye as well ;)

Their day was filled to the brim with love, and was the perfect way to kick off this year.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – my dear brides, I will take EIGHT THOUSAND pictures of your shoes, and perhaps, NINE THOUSAND, if they’re as fabulous as this pair.